Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 2

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20 " White sails spread high at my command
Before a sounding wind from Cona ;
Three hundred youths of ocean
Beheld the steelly boss of war :
High on the mast was the shield
25 Gleaming down on the roaring deep.
When fell the night from grey to black,
I struck the boss, the warning note of blows ;
I struck, and looked on high
For the red hair and fire of lul-Erin."
30 Nor missed we long the clear star of the waves
His red path moved among the clouds.
I followed the pleasant guide of ocean,
As it travelled in cold and feeble gleam.
With morning Erin drew near in mist ;
35 We struck the great port of Moi-Lena,
The blue course of its waters by a hill.
Which rose in the midst of resounding wood.
Cormac (hid) in his secret hall
From strength of Colc-uUa, chief of spoils.
40 Nor alone did he flee from the strong ;
By his side was the modest Koscranna —
Roscranna of faultless blue eyes,
The bright white-handed daughter of the king.
DUAN IV.
He set sail,
accompanied
by three hun-
dred of liis
warriors, and,
guided by the
star of Inl-
Erin,
reached the
iiarbour of
Moi-Lena on
the following
morning.
pursued tlie lovely beam on the faint-gleaming deep. Witli morn-
ing Erin rose in mist. "VVe came in the bay of Moi-lena, where its
blue waters tumbled in the bosom of echoing woods. Here Cormac,
in his secret hall, avoids the strength of Colc-ulla. Nor he alone
avoids the foe. The blue eye of Eos-crana is there : Eos-crana,
white-handed maid, the daughter of the king !